Sandstorm before into the wild
by Animal Storyteller
Summary: Who was Sandstorm before "Into the Wild". She wasn't nasty and mean like when Firestar first met her, so who was she then? Read the story of friendship & adventure, and venture into Sandstorm's life from birth to the mission before Firestar's arrival.
1. Sandkit's beginning

**During a beautiful Newleaf...**

Brindleface had Sandkit only a few days ago. Bluestar stood proud on Highrock with Redtail, who was looking happily at his mate and new daughter. In the nursery, Robinwing was swollen with another litter of kits. So was Frostfur, only this was her first litter.

Sandkit was playing with Graykit in the camp when Bluestar came up to Highrock. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather her!" she meowed. Two gray cats appeared at the front. "Longpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Longtail. StarClan honors your bravery and your strength, and we welcome you as a full member of ThunderClan. Serve your clan well" Bluestar announced. "Longtail! Longtail!" everybody chanted. Sandkit ran off as Bluestar said something else to Longtail. "Graykit!" Sandkit shouted and then lunged at Graykit. Graykit flipped around and pinned Sandkit to the ground. "I'm much tougher than you!" Graykit purred. Sandkit jumped over him and rubbed herself against his flank. Graykit smiled and saw his father, Patchpelt, with two other cats talking.

Bluestar took many cats with her and left to a gathering. "Dad! How come I can't go?" Sandkit complained to her father Redtail. "Silly Sandkit! Your too young to go to a gathering!" Redtail purred. He nuzzled Sandkit and followed Bluestar. Sandkit sighed and pressed herself against her mother's belly. The only two apprentices, Mousepaw and Runningpaw, left to the gathering, and Longtail guarded the camp.

Sandkit tried to stay awake to hear how the gathering went from Redtail, but she fell asleep after a few minutes. Graykit looked at her, yawned, and then fell asleep.


	2. the patrol

**The next sunrise**

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come here!" Bluestar meowed. Sandkit hopped out of the nursery along with Graykit & the new kits, Dustkit and Ravenkit. Dustkit jumped on Sandkit and they started rolling around until Graykit jumped on them both. They turned to see Bluestar and the whole clan looking at them and Sandkit felt very embarrassed and hid her face in her chest fur. "I'm going to sent Darkstripe to lead a hunting patrol with Longtail, and Whitestorm. Redtail, I want you to lead Lionheart, Tigerclaw, and Sparrowpelt on a border patrol" Bluestar ordered. Sandkit's father and the 6 other cats got up and took off into the forest.

Sandkit, Graykit, and Dustkit were playing around while Ravenkit stayed with his and Dustkit's mother. "Ravenkit, why don't you play with your friends?" Robinwing said to his son and gave him a lick on the head. "I'm too scared to go out!" Ravenkit mewed. Sandkit was about to pounce on Ravenkit's tail from behind before she heard her father yell "INJURED CATS!".

Redtail and his border patrol came back greatly wounded, and their medicine cat, Spottedleaf, came dashing right out of her den. They were bleeding badly, and Bluestar was very alarmed at the site. Redtail collapsed almost instantly, and Bluestar ran to him. "What in the name of StarClan happened?!" Bluestar gasped. "We saw ShadowClan cats on our territory, they put up quite a fight! OW!" Lionheart said, his shoulder and hind leg were in agony. Spottedleaf came back with cobweb and goldenrod. "Fox-brained cats" Tigerclaw hissed "I'll rip their throats out!". Sandkit ran to her father as he was being treated with cobweb. "Dad!" Sandkit shrieked. She almost cried at the sight of her hurt father.

**A half-moon later**

Sandkit saw her mother and father talk to each other while sharing a squirrel. She and all the other kits were being watched by the other queens. She saw Tigerclaw come in the nursery and began to nuzzle Goldenflower. "I'll take care of these kits like they were my own" Tigerclaw meowed. Sandkit heard purrs of sympathy around the nursery. The clan learned that Goldenflower was expecting kits only a few sunrises after Redtail and his patrol came back wounded and injured.

However, the clan is much better now. It was a beautiful sunset around the camp, and Sandkit and Dustkit were watching it as the clan ate. "Isn't it beautiful?" Sandkit purred. Dustkit nodded and Sandkit rested her head on his shoulder. Soon enough, it was dark, and all the cats fell asleep. Sandkit rested next to her mother, Brindleface. Before she fell into a deep sleep, she saw Bluestar walk into her den, she was sad and exhausted, and Sandkit didn't know why.


	3. ShadowClan

Sandkit woke up and saw Spottedleaf tending to other cats. "What happened?!" Sandkit gasped. "ShadowClan, they attacked us" Tigerclaw muttered as Spottedleaf applied chewed-up dock to his shoulder. Sandkit saw Redtail limping to Spottedleaf, then she applied horsetail to Redtail's bleeding leg.

Sunrises passed slowly after the attack, but after a half-moon, Bluestar came up to the Highrock. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come here!" she shouted. They all came, and by Bluestar's tone, she didn't sound too happy. "I'm tired of ShadowClan attacking us for no reason! I have no choice but to fight back!" Bluestar announced. The cats chanted in agreement. Bluestar knew she only had three lives left, but ShadowClan needed to stop. "I will go along with Tigerclaw, Lionheart, Darkstripe, Longtail, and Whitestorm. Bluestar stepped down from the rock, and Sandkit was grateful that Redtail wasn't chosen to go, and ran to her father.

"Let's play dad!" Sandkit said excitedly, hopping around her father. "Okay, what do you want to play?" he asked. "Hide and seek!" Sandkit replied. "We want to play too!" Graykit meowed, with Dustkit following him. "Redtail! you need to lead a hunting patrol with Longtail and Mousepaw" Bluestar said, then left with the fighting patrol. "Sorry, Sandkit, but I have to go hunt for the clan, you can still play with Graykit and Dustkit!" Redtail purred. Sandkit began to pout, and Redtail licked her cheek and left with Longtail and Mousepaw.

After a long day of playing with Graykit and Dustkit, Redtail's hunting patrol returned.

But even after moonrise, Bluestar's patrol was not in sight.


	4. Apprentices

Two moons had passed since Bluestar's patrol returned beaten and exhausted. Sandkit was more grown, and so were her friends Dustkit and Graykit. Graykit saw Ravenkit nervously shoulder out of the nursery. "It's about time he had come out of there" Halftail whispered to another elder. Then Sandkit heard Bluestar call out the clan. "They're going to be made apprentices!" Lionheart said to Tigerclaw. "Lets just hope that I get the brown one" Tigerclaw growled, pointing one claw at Dustkit, "He seems to be the only one the doesn't look like a waste of my time". Redtail flinched and turned to their leader, Bluestar.

"Attention, my clan. We have no apprentices at the moment" Bluestar said while eyeing Runningwind and Mousefur, their two newest warriors, "So I am making four cats apprentices. Sandkit, Graykit, Dustkit, Ravenkit, step forward". The four cats walked at the same time and they all sat down in front of the high rock. "Sandkit is six moons old and ready to be an apprentice, Whitestorm, use your experience wisely to pass down to Sandpaw" Bluestar meowed. Sandpaw happily ran to touch noses with Whitestorm. Graypaw was apprenticed to Lionheart, Dustpaw to Redtail, and Ravenpaw to Tigerclaw.

Sandpaw was quite surprised when Bluestar chose Sandpaw's father to mentor Dustpaw, and when Ravenpaw was apprenticed to Tigerclaw, he was furious. Tigerclaw had given a snarl before stalking up to touch noses with his new apprentice. Sandpaw almost felt bad for Ravenpaw.

But all thoughts of such faded away when Whitestorm came up to her. "Sandpaw...how would you like to look over the territory with me, Dustpaw, Graypaw, Ravenpaw, and their mentors?" he had asked. "Yes!" Sandpaw said excitedly.


	5. Checking Borders

Sandpaw walked with Graypaw, Dustpaw, Ravenpaw, and their mentors. "That's Sunningrocks" Lionheart hissed, "Riverclan owns it".

"Not for long" Tigerclaw snarled, "My former mentor, Thistleclaw, will shred them". "I smell Riverclan!" Graypaw gasped, "On our side!".

"Riverclan!" Tigerclaw snarled. Sandpaw looked up to see that Graypaw was right, there was four warriors, sleek, furry, and smelly of fish.

"HEY!" Tigerclaw roared, "Off our territory! Fish-faces!". The tawny brown warrior leading the Riverclan cats turned in surprise. "That's Oakheart, the Riverclan deputy" Redtail meowed, "Those cats with him are Leopardfur, Sedgecreek, and Blackclaw". Leopardfur lunged onto Tigerclaw and they fell into a fury of fur and claws. Lionheart took on Sedgecreek and Blackclaw while Redtail and Whitestorm took on Oakheart.

"GET THE OTHERS!" Whitestorm screeched before he was cut off. Sandpaw and Ravenpaw took off back to Thunderclan while Graypaw and Dustpaw stared in shock at the fighting cats.

"Bluestar! Bluestar!"

"What is it, Ravenpaw?" Bluestar asked. "Riverclan is attacking!" Sandpaw cried. Bluestar's eyes widened before she let out a yowl. "Runningwind, Thistleclaw, Darkstripe, Mousefur, Dappletail!" Bluestar yowled, "Head to Sunningrocks!". Thistleclaw's eyes gleamed as he took off into the trees. "You can grab herbs for Spottedleaf to help" Bluestar said to Sandpaw and Ravenpaw.

"But those are medicine cat duties!" Sandpaw protested. "GO!" Bluestar hissed, "Do as I say!". Sandpaw grabbed marigold and dock leaf and followed Spottedleaf and Ravenpaw.

"Oh no!" Spottedleaf gasped

Sandpaw saw that there were more Riverclan cats, at least six more.

"Flea-pelts!" Stonefur growled

"Snake-hearts!" Loudbelly snarled

"Help" Whitestorm moaned weakly. Spottedleaf dashed to his side and Sandpaw saw a gash on his shoulder.

"I'll take care of Loudbelly, Frogleap, and Rippleclaw!" Thistleclaw said to Dappletail and Lionheart as they struggled to fend off the cats. Sandpaw spotted another cat in the chaos, he had brown fur and a crooked jaw.

"Crookedstar!" Tigerclaw yowled. That must be the cat with the crooked jaw. Tigerclaw leaped onto Crookedstar and sinks his claws into his shoulders. "Give me dock leaf!" Spottedleaf cried. Sandpaw gave her the leaves and saw Darkstripe with a scratch that went from his tail to his hind leg.

"Starclan help us" said a voice in the distance.

Sandpaw turned around and saw it was Brambleberry, her ears pressed against Sedgecreek's chest. "Sedgecreek is dead!" Brambleberry yowled, "And so is Owlfur!".

Crookedstar looked in shock and yowled "Retreat!".

Sandpaw saw the cats retreat, including the cats that Sandpaw had thought Thistleclaw chased off. "We need to look for Thistleclaw!" Sandpaw gasped.

"You're right" Whitestorm replied, "Me, you, Lionheart, and Graypaw will search for him".

Sandpaw nodded and followed them. "What if Thistleclaw is dead?" Graypaw asked. "Don't worry" was all Lionheart said before he stopped. Sandpaw looked over Lionheart's shoulder.

It was Thistleclaw's body, stained with blood.

**Please read and review my other stories for next chapter! Thank you!**


	6. A Gathering of Tension

**A quarter moon after the battle**

Sandpaw woke up in the Apprentice Den, still shocked after Thistleclaw's death. Sandpaw turned around and saw one of the elders pick up a shrew for himself. His name was Thrushpelt, he gave Bluestar's shoulder a quick lick before carrying the shrew to Adderfang and Halftail. Tonight was the gathering, and Sandpaw wished she could be happy as any other apprentice would be at their first gathering, but Riverclan must be angry, furious. The thought made Sandpaw's fur bristle to half her size.

Sandpaw watched as Bluestar ordered Tigerclaw, Lionheart, Runningwind, Mousefur, and Darkstripe on a border patrol. Sandpaw could tell that Bluestar was scared, which worried Sandpaw even more. Thrushpelt dashed after Bluestar. "Will you be okay?" Thrushpelt asked. "NO!" Bluestar snapped, then she ran to her den, fur bristling.

Later, the moon began rising, Bluestar took Redtail, Spottedleaf, Tigerclaw, Lionheart, Whitestorm, Runningwind, Mousefur, Goldenflower, Speckletail, Patchpelt, Adderfang, Halftail, Graypaw, Dustpaw, Ravenpaw, and herself. Leaving Darkstripe and Dappletail to guard the camp. They arrived at Fourtrees and saw that Windclan and Shadowclan had already arrived. Then Sandpaw's eyes locked with a huge dark brown tom. His amber eyes screamed death, and he smelled of toadstool.

This cat was Brokenstar.

Sandpaw was about to scream till she felt a bump.

"Oh, sorry!"

It was Littlepaw of Shadowclan. He ducked his head and shuffled his paws. "It's okay" Sandpaw responded. "Look, it's Riverclan" said a Windclan queen. Sandpaw turned around and saw many more cats pour into the clearing, giving hostile looks as if they were looking at a band of foxes.

But they weren't, they were looking at Thunderclan.

Crookedstar instantly jumped onto the rock. "Thunderclan attacked us" he started, "And killed Sedgecreek and Owlfur!". Yowls of shock rang around the clearing. Sandpaw knew this would happen, she didn't want this, she wanted to go home.

"You had Sunningrocks!" Bluestar hissed. "That's a horrible excuse, and you know it" Crookedstar snarled under his broken jaw. "FISH-HEART!" Bluestar yowled. Rippleclaw pounced right in front of Tigerclaw, snarling. So did Loudbelly and Oakheart.

"STOP! This isn't a battle worth fighting!"

Sandpaw searched for the cat that dared protest to the outraged leaders, and saw it was none other than Crookedstar's daughter, Silverpaw. Ravenpaw nodded, but didn't speak his approval to his leader, whose eyes were shooting daggers at Crookedstar and his clan. Tallstar opened his mouth to speak, but Brokenstar smacked him with one strong paw. All the cats started kicking and clawing each other. Sandpaw was shocked, what about the truce?!

Among the midst of the fight, Sandpaw saw Silverpaw, and Sandpaw's fear reflected in her eyes before Silverpaw disappeared into the chaos. Sandpaw was about to yell to stop.

But before that could happen, Lightning hit the center of the clearing.

Sandpaw's body was flung and hit a tree. Her vision got blurry and she felt her body rumbling.

"SANDPAW!"

She noticed her father's voice and she smelled his scent, but it was hard to see him. "Move" Sandpaw whispered weakly. Redtail did so, And Sandpaw puked all over the tree, she felt her fur shiver and she saw a flame-colored cat figure in the night sky and a voice whispered.

"Fire will save the clans"

Was she going delusional? Sandpaw heard shocked cries, screaming for Adderfang.

He was dead.

Then a new scent came, she felt Graypaw's tongue rasp against her cheek.

Then she blacked out.


	7. The Signs of Starclan

Sandpaw woke up, she was dazed. She noticed Spottedleaf and Sandpaw's mother, Brindleface. "You okay, Sandpaw?" Brindleface asked. "Yea" Sandpaw wheezed.

"Good"

Sandpaw lifted her head, it was Dustpaw. "Then we can go to the Moonstone!". "Let her rest!" Spottedleaf hissed, "She needs some for Starclan's sake!". "Look! It's the dawn patrol!".

In the lead was Lionheart, holding a rabbit, while Whitestorm and Graypaw had squirrels in their jaws. The elders popped out of their burrow. "Great! I'm starved!" Halftail purred. It seemed to be normal till Lionheart faced Graypaw.

"I thought you had a squirrel and a mouse!" Lionheart growled. "I-I must've dropped it!" Graypaw whimpered. "Graypaw!" it was Bluestar, "You should know better than to eat prey before the elders!". "But I didn't eat it! I promise!" Graypaw said. Bluestar walked her way towards him until she was a tail-length from him.

"Hope you enjoy picking out Thrushpelt's ticks" Bluestar hissed coldly. "But-"SILENCE!" Bluestar snapped, "Get to it". Graypaw crawled to the elder's den. Sandpaw knew Graypaw didn't eat it, she was sure of it. She even smelled the mouse close by.

"Where's Tigerclaw?" Dappletail asked. Lionheart shrugged and then brought the squirrel to Frostfur, whom had just had her kits. Bluestar then came up to Sandpaw. "I will take you and Dustpaw to the Moonstone".

Bluestar, Sandpaw, and Dustpaw slipped into the gorse tunnel. Sandpaw heard crunching and turned to see Tigerclaw eating the mouse that Graypaw caught. Sandpaw felt that she had to speak out, till Bluestar's tail tip brushed her shoulder.

"This is Windclan territory" Bluestar meowed, "They'll let us through".

And she was right, not one cat came. In fact, it didn't even smell of Windclan. Instead, it was the strong scent of Shadowclan. "Why does it smell of Shadowclan?" Sandpaw asked. "I don't know maybe-" but Bluestar was cut off as seven Shadowclan warriors circled around them. Sandpaw noticed Russetfur and Blackfoot, but all the other cats were strangers to her.

"Off our territory!" a tom snarled. "We're heading to the Moonstone!" Dustpaw shot back defiantly. "Let them pass" Blackfoot said to the other cats. With relief, Sandpaw and the other carried on until they went down the damp cave and then Sandpaw saw the most beautiful thing, a tall rock several cats high, the moon was right over it, making it shine.

"Press your nose to the rock" Bluestar ordered. Sandpaw did so, and fell to darkness.

Sandpaw woke up in a dream. She was at Fourtrees, she looked back and forth, then she saw a tiger. It continued to roar until a flood of blood swept it off it's massive feet. Then the flood took Sandpaw till she was choking.

"Sandpaw!"

Sandpaw woke up, she was up and fine. "You okay?" Dustpaw asked. "Yes, I'm fine" Sandpaw replied shakily.

When they came back, all of the cats were waiting. Then Sandpaw saw her mentor come back with Longtail and Runningwind. "Just on a border patrol" Whitestorm clarified.

When nighttime struck, Sandpaw curled up and fell asleep. Ready for another day of warrior training.

**The next chapter will be the last chapter, or the "Epilogue"**


	8. A New Cat

_Sandpaw's POV_

Is it sunrise already? It's been a moon since I had the tiger in blood dream at the Moonstone. Who's that?! Oh, that's just Graypaw with a vole in his jaws...

"Redtail, let's go on a border patrol" Tigerclaw meowed. The two went off, which was odd to me, since usually three to four cats check borders. "Hey Sandpaw!" it was Ravenpaw, a good friend of mine. "Want to go for a walk? I need to stretch my paws". "No thanks" I replied as my gaze drifted to Bluestar. Her expression was blank, but why?

"Oh, ok" Ravenpaw nodded, "I'll go myself". Maybe I can go on a hunting patrol. I came up to Bluestar. "Um, Bluestar? May I go on patrol?" I asked. Bluestar flinched and gave me a look as if I had asked her to jump off a cliff.

"No!" Bluestar snapped, fur ruffled. Why was she being so touchy? Then Lionheart and Whitestorm came, but between them was a small flame-colored cat. Was he the fire? No. He can't be. He has a collar!

"Don't be alarmed, Rusty. It's only natural that everyone wants to get a good look at you" Lionheart comforted the cat. Bluestar left my side and they began talking. "Bluestar's thinking about letting him join our clan!" Sandpaw turned around, it was Graypaw. "What are you so happy about?! He's a kittypet!" I hissed. "Yea! But he fought with me well!" Graypaw commented.

Before I could protest, Bluestar called. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!" she shouted. Oh no, please don't let him join this clan! "Thunderclan needs more warriors. Never before have we had so few apprentices in training." I didn't want to hear no more, how could Bluestar let this mouse-brain into the clan! He stinks of twolegs.

I looked around, to see the surprised faces of many. "ROOOWWWRR!" I snapped out of it to see Longtail being attacked by the kittypet. I just wanted to run away, I couldn't watch, I'll make sure he isn't the fire, let that arrogant fox-heart take over the clan. He has challenged me.

And I accept his challenge.


End file.
